Pro-life demonstrators take part in the "March for Life" in Washington January 23, 2012. Nearly 100,000 protesters marched to the U.S. Supreme Court to mark the 39th anniversary of the Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision on abortion.

A recently published study in Denmark shows a higher mortality rate for women after abortion than women who undergo childbirth, which goes against the long-held belief that abortion is safe alternative compared to childbirth.

The study, "Short and long term mortality rates associated with first pregnancy outcome: Population register based study for Denmark 1980–2004," was published by the Medical Science Monitor and reviewed the medical record of nearly half a million women in Denmark during that time period.

Researchers were able to complete their findings by comparing records from Denmark's fertility and abortion registries to the country's death registry records.

They were then able to examine death rates of women following the first pregnancy outcome for all women of Denmark who were of reproductive age during the study. They organized the mortality rates within periods of time staring with 180 days, 1 year, and 10 years following each woman's first pregnancy.

The results showed that women who had at least one abortion in each of the time period looked at showed significantly higher mortality rates than women who did not have an abortion.

The study found overall that women who underwent a first-trimester abortion had an 89 percent greater chance of dying within the first year and a staggering 80 percent greater risk of death during the entire time period examined.

"Doctors and other officials completing death certificates almost never know if the deceased had a history of abortion," David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute and co-author of the new study, said in a statement.

"Record linkage, such as we have done, is the only way to objectively identify and compare death rates associated with pregnancy outcome using the same yardstick," he added.

Reardon further stated that one cause that can be attributed to higher rates of maternal mortality may be due to the intense psychological stress that women undergo and the willingness of pro-choice organizations and supportive governments to reduce birth rates among poor and minority communities.

"Population control activists in the United States and Europe, governments, NGO's, and academic circles are pressuring developing countries to legalize abortion … their long-standing documented objective is to reduce birth rates among the poor," Reardon said.